Magic of the Season
by Princess Tyler Briefs
Summary: Ben remembers something he didn’t know he’d forgotten…[BenRiley Brotherly Fluff.]


**A/N:** Inspired by the twenty-something year old kids that are playing outside my window. It was the first snow fall of the season for me yesterday, so how could I not write something for it? I'm also thinking of writing a Christmas fic. Any opinions on the matter?

By the way, you'll be getting Riley's full back story from me. Eventually. I promise.

**Disclaimer:** Ben and Riley are not mine. In fact, I am of the opinion that they secretly belong to _**save changes to normal**_. That's just me, though.

**Summary:** Ben remembers something he didn't know he'd forgotten…BenRiley Brotherly Fluff.

_**Magic of the Season**_

_Chapter 1/1_

Ben looked up from his book as he heard footsteps running across the ceiling above his head. With Abby gone Christmas shopping—she had forbidden either of them to go with her this time as they'd been trying to sneak peeks at presents last time—there was only one person that could possibly be running around like a colossal mouse on sugar.

It seemed that Riley, for whatever reason, had stopped the mysterious project he'd been working on for the last two days and would soon be rejoining the land of the living.

It was a few more minutes before the younger man came bounding down the stairs, two at a time, dressed in a green snowflake sweater, black gloves, and a red scarf. He ran past the living room without a word, only pausing long enough to slip on a pair of boots by the door, before dashing outside and letting the door slam behind him.

That, Ben thought, was most certainly unusual.

He set down his book and made to stand up when something hit the window behind him with a dull 'thump'. The former-treasurer hunter whirled around in surprise, ready for any sort of attack, but found only a soggy looking snowball plastered to the window and Riley motioning to him franticly.

Deciding that he probably should see if his best friend had been abducted by aliens, Ben slid the window open with a frown. "Riley, what are you doing?"

"It's snowing!" came Riley's excited yell back, and he threw another snowball. With the window open, the screen wasn't enough to stop it all, and Ben found his face covered in small flecks of horribly cold and wet snow.

The gauntlet had officially been thrown.

Closing the window once more, Ben got to his feet and dressed for the cold outside—being sure to grab an extra coat for Riley since the younger man hadn't, the idiot—before running out into the swirl of white flakes.

He immediately had to duck another snowball, and he glared at Riley indignantly. "I wasn't ready."

Riley just grinned at him, ignoring the flakes that were sticking to his messed up hair and the scruff on his face. "And here I thought you were prepared for anything."

"I've never claimed to be prepared for an alien invasion."

The computer whiz ignored him, bending down and starting to form another snowball.

Ben wasn't going to stand for that. He'd already given the kid three free shots. The historian didn't bother to properly give his weapon shape. He just scooped up a handful of the fresh-powder and threw it as hard as he could at the other man.

Riley yelped as it hit him on the shoulder, sticking to his sweater and face, and dropped his half-formed snowball. He reached up and scrubbed his face, trying to get the snow out of his eyes. "I've been blind-sided! You cheater!"

"It's not cheating. It's taking an opportunity."

"What? Like using treasure hunting as an opportunity to get a girlfriend? Opportunistic jerk. That's what you are." Riley found the snow he'd dropped and threw it at Ben even as he started running away.

The badly aimed projectile went harmlessly wide, but it did give Riley a decent head start as Ben paused to scoop up another handful of snow. "You just can't resist saying something, can you?"

"Nope. You wouldn't like me near as much if I didn't anyway."

This was true, but whether or not Riley actually knew that was open to debate. Even Riley's biggest fans—and if his constantly full inbox was any indication, the kid had a few—couldn't claim Riley was at all perceptive.

Ben tossed his snowball, striking Riley between the shoulder blades as he ducked behind a tree. Blue eyes and tousled brown hair soon appeared from behind it. "It's not nice to hit your friends in the back with a snowball, Ben. Not nice at all."

"Not very nice to hit them in the face either," Ben grinned back, ducking behind his own tree and kneeling down to start stock-piling his ammunition.

"How else was I supposed to get you out here?"

"You could have just ask…" He was cut off mid-sentence as Riley's snowball pegged him on the nose, this time with no mediating screen.

Ben could hear the younger man laughing as he spat out a mouthful of snow, and decided to abandon his pile and go right in for the kill. He rushed at Riley, who let out a short yell before trying to bolt.

Unfortunately for the smaller man, Ben was in pretty good shape for his age and also had longer strides than Riley did. He tackled the kid in seconds, sending them both sprawling into the snow. The ex-treasure protector used his added weight to flip Riley so he was lying on his back in the snow with Ben straddling his chest. The older man picked up a handful of the loose powder and grinned down at the other.

Light blue eyes became almost impossibly round, and Riley tried to raise his own arms to cover his face. "No, Ben, please. You wouldn't!"

He didn't respond, instead opting to rub the frozen flakes into Riley's face as the younger man spluttered, while trying simultaneously to get as much down the other man's sweater as possible.

Riley flailed, spitting out snow rather unsuccessfully, and tried to bat Ben's hand away. Not to be thwarted, Ben simply grabbed both of Riley's wrists in one of his hands and pinned them down.

"Had enough?" he grinned as he reached for another handful of white powder. Nothing like a good old fashioned whitewashing to get him grinning like an idiot.

"Alright, alright," Riley gasped beneath him, still spitting out small chunks of ice. "I give!"

Ben rolled off his friend, landing on his back beside him. He looked over at Riley's snow covered face and chuckled as the younger man tried to wipe it off with the back of his sleeve. "You look like you came off worse in a fight with a snow plow."

"I did. Only this snow plow has a name." Riley stuck his tounge out at him before letting his head fall back against the snow. They lay there in companionable silence for a while until Riley began to move his arms and legs back and forth. It took Ben a few seconds to process the fact that his best friend was, in fact, making a snow angel. He propped himself up on his elbow to give the other man a curious look.

Riley just stared back at him, looking innocent. "What?"

"Who are you, and what have you done with Riley?" Ben shook his head, grinning a little. "You obviously haven't done your research, faker, because normally I have to almost forcefully drag my Riley outside, and he most certainly doesn't play there."

"I could say the same thing about the Ben Gates I know," Riley smirked back at him. "I've never actually seen him play anything that wasn't somehow dangerous to somebody."

"You started it," Ben observed, flopping back onto his back. "This isn't at all something you would do normally."

"It isn't snowing normally." Riley shot back before opening his mouth to catch one of the still falling snowflakes.

"I never begged you as the kind to like snow," Ben frowned, turning his head to face his friend once more. "You sure complained enough about being cold when we were walking to the village."

"I don't much like being cold. And you'll have to forgive me if almost getting blown up makes me a little cranky. We can't all be saints like you."

Ben chuckled a little at that. "As I recall, what you complained about most was how wet, and cold, and bright the snow was."

"That wasn't Christmas snow," Riley said matter-of-factly, grabbing a handful and tossing it into the air above his head. "Christmas snow isn't like regular snow. Regular snow is evil, awful stuff that was created to make the lives of Eskimos miserable. Christmas snow is special."

If Riley had been looking at him, Ben was fairly certain he would have laughed at the confusion the historian couldn't keep from showing on his face. As far as he could tell snow was snow. It was always formed in the same way, always cold, and always painfully white.

Riley wasn't looking at him though. He was following the myriad of flakes with blue eyes that stood out starkly against his flushed face.

Rolling his head back once more, Ben joined his friend in the snowflake watching. "You really like Christmas, don't you?"

It was silent for a long time, but he hadn't really expected an answer. Abby had a theory that Riley talked as much as he did to avoid talking about himself, and Ben was starting to believe she was right.

"I celebrated my first Christmas when I was eleven-years-old," Riley finally said, his voice quiet. "Growing up…I had an abstract idea of what Christmas was, but we didn't…there weren't presents. Except for a couple of years, when I was eleven and twelve. The tree…the lights…it was like magic. You don't forget that."

Ben chose not to say anything for a long time, carefully keeping his eyes on the snowflakes. How long had it been since he'd seen that magic? "I remember Christmas before my mom died. She used to decorate the whole house, and everything just…sparkled." Ben laughed softly, brushing a few flakes off his face. "And she would spend hours baking. The house constantly smelt like cookies. I remember Dad would always try and steal some…"

He couldn't help but smile a little to himself. Even though he'd been very young, he could still remember how special that time felt. That warm safe feeling he used to have when helping his mother put tinsel on the tree, or playing with his presents with his dad on Christmas morning. That same feeling he'd had a few moments ago, playing around with Riley.

"You miss her, don't you?"

Ben looked over at Riley, who was now sitting in the middle of his snow angel and looking at him. "Yeah, I do."

"Was she nice?"

"Yeah, she was. I mean, she put up with me and my Dad pretty well. She was a lot like Abby, actually. You would have liked her."

"Like Abby, huh?" Riley grinned, dusting a snow out of his hair and getting to his feet. "Then I'm sure I would have."

"She would have loved you."

Riley froze momentarily and turned to stare at Ben, the very picture of confusion. Leave it to Riley to doubt it every time it was proposed that someone other then Ben—and by extension Abby and Patrick—would care about him.

"You…" Riley swallowed and offered a shaky smile, "You really think so?"

Ben got to his feet and gave Riley a playful shove, wishing not for the first time that he could have known Riley as a child, and adopted him back then. "Kid, I know so. Now, I hear some hot chocolate calling my name…"

"Ben, those are just the voices in your head. I told you too long without a challenge would mess with your mind." Riley grinned, but shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.

Shaking his head, Ben walked over to where he'd dropped the spare coat and tossed it at his best friend before turning back towards the house. "Come on, you. Abby will kill me if she comes back and sees you half frozen."

The only response he got was a snowball to the back of the head.


End file.
